The start-up surge continues.

As businesses were shutting down in the early months of the pandemic, more people started to venture out on their own. New business applications, which rarely got above 300,000 in a single month nationwide, suddenly shot up to 552,214 in July 2020, according to data from the U.S. Census. And it really hasn’t stopped—since then, an average of 433,000 business applications have been filed each month.

Of course, not all new businesses are created equal. But the Census designates a percentage as “high-propensity business applications,” meaning businesses that are likely to start hiring employees, and even those have significantly risen since the onset of COVID-19.

What types of businesses are these? The top three are retail, professional services and construction, according to an analysis of 2022 data by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Florida, in particular, has been conducive to new businesses; the state saw a 50% increase in business applications in 2022 compared to 2019, according to the Chamber.